5 Tips that Really Work to Fight Procrastination

When you type “fight procrastination” in search engines, it lists out tons of tips that may or may not work on you. There are several general tips that I found in these results, such as “stop being a perfectionist” and “breaking down large tasks”. Today, as a procrastinator who fights procrastination every day and never completely said goodbye to it, I’ll not repeat those clichés. I’m going to share with you some tips that really worked for me.PROCRASTINATIONbylivinlovindude

1.) Accept the reality that procrastination would reoccur and be brave to face it constantly

Procrastination is like a horrible contagious disease that always reoccurs. Why is it contagious? For example, when I procrastinate, if I saw another procrastinator is in the same situation as me, I would be strongly relieved and try to motivate myself to not be the same.

Be brave to face it again and again. I’ve seen some people giving out many excuses to refuse being a procrastinator. They just turned out to be procrastinating more.

2.) Always keep a positive mood or attitude

I am more productive when I do things that I love. I usually procrastinate on the tasks I don’t like. Then I found keeping a positive mood and attitude is pretty important when I start doing something. Being happy also means being productive. Being upset or angry can even kill people’s attitude, not to mention killing people’s willingness and motivation to finish a project.

3.) Reminders would never work, be the for reminder yourself

Is this your typical morning? “Snooze” the alarm goes off 5 times, go back to sleep until the last minute and rush to the office turned where you turn out to be still late for 3 minutes? The power of reminders like the alarm is actually weak in front of procrastinators. Procrastinators know what is right and what they “have to do”, but they just can’t.

Be the reminder for yourself. I usually call it “don’t start” reminder. When you’ve already started doing one project and all of a sudden you thought of another project that hasn’t been finished yet, just please, please, PLEASE don’t start. One thing the procrastinators share is the easiness to be distracted. So, when something distracts you, just remind yourself “don’t start”. Social media, email, laundry, etc. can wait until you finished what you have on hand. Remind yourself, “don’t start”.

4.) Once you’ve left behind, choose the fastest way to keep up

When you’ve already left behind, keep up as soon as you can. For example, if you’re one chapter behind the class, use quick tools such as watching videos or a study guide to keep up. Don’t think you can save it until the last two weeks to stay up all night and study. When you keep up the schedule with others, you’ll feel more motivated to continue.

Another trick I usually use to encourage myself when I fall behind is to “give yourself a second life”. Just like playing a video game, if you only have “one life” left, it is usually a little bit stressful and intense. It’s the same for procrastinators. Once you’ve left behind and don’t give yourself another chance or “life”, your mood goes down. As what I’ve mentioned in the tip 2, bad mood may results in severer procrastination.

5.) Stop looking for tips to fight procrastination and stuck there for hours. Go back to work!!!